The new technology for steel production is the mini-mill.
It makes steel by melting scrap metal in electric arc furnaces and pouring it into continuous thin-slab casting machines.
From there, 2-inch thick slabs are rolled directly into finished steel.
The biggest benefit of the new technology is the low cost of production.
The new process makes steel in a single production run, cutting out several stages of traditional manufacturing.
This sharply cuts time, labor, and energy costs.
Mini-mills have lower capital demands and operating costs than traditional steel manufacturers.
Maverick US mini-mill producer, Nucor, has the lowest productions costs of any US flat-rolled steel producer.
It achieves this with the new technology, the cheap electricity costs of its rural location, and the use of non-union labor.
Other mini-mill steel producers are Chapparal, Birmingham, an Italian mini-mill group, and Co-Steel, with mini-mills in Canada, the US and the UK.
A mini-mill is planned for Bilbao, Spain.
Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary and the US's North Star Steel will build and operate one in the US Midwest.
Trico Steel, a US-UK-Japanese joint venture, will build one in the south-eastern US.
Dutch, German, and Taiwanese companies may follow.
Nucor had steel quality problems at start up which were easily solved.
However, steel from mini-mills is of a grade more suitable for construction than for more demanding applications, such as car-body panels.
The high cost of energy and scrap metal in western Europe and Japan reduce the competitiveness of the mini-mill in those countries.
